Symposium
by AbSim7
Summary: Percy and Annabeth attempt to help a mortal woman find her soulmate. One shot.


"According to Greek Mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate beings, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves."

-Plato, The Symposium

"Annabeth! Hey Annabeth! Wise girl! What are you reading?"

Sometimes Percy Jackson acted like a five year old, despite the fact that at eighteen years old he had battled more monsters than most demigods would in their lifetimes.

Annabeth placed her book facedown on her stomach, allowing her lips to curl up in a smile. If there was anything she had learned this past year, it was that she should always make time for the love in her life. Peace didn't always last for her.

"Just brushing up on some mythology."

Percy climbed onto the bed she was lying on, dropping the grocery bags he was holding on the floor. He placed one knee on either side of her legs, reaching forward to pick up the heavy tome.

"Plato's The Symposium." Percy had no trouble translating the Ancient Greek on the cover. He made a face and tossed the book on the floor.

"Hey!" Annabeth protested, laughing. "That book's really interesting!"

Percy leaned forward to hover over her, placing one hand on either side of her head. "It looks boring." He mumbled.

Annabeth found herself agreeing with him. Her heart was racing. The book _was_ boring compared to being here with Percy. She reached up to stroke his face and Percy leaned in, smiling.

"It isn't boring." She made herself insist. "It's all about what the Ancient Greeks thought about creation and love and sex." Annabeth felt her cheeks redden against her will.

Percy quirked an eyebrow. "And what do they say about, um, that last one?"

Annabeth laughed out loud. Percy was trying to be suave but as previously noted, he was an overgrown five year old. "You can say that word you know."

"What word?" Percy grinned down at her.

A high-pitched scream interrupted them, causing Percy to jump up, immediately pulling out his pen. Annabeth reached under her pillow for her dagger. They might have been in a time of peace but old habits die hard.

"It's gone!" A voice shrieked. It was coming from outside the apartment.

Cautiously, carefully, Percy made his way towards their apartment door, Annabeth following in his wake. Percy peered out through the peephole and was surprised to find an average looking woman standing there. She was weeping, tears streaming down her red rimmed eyes. What seemed the most strange to Percy was how normal she seemed, like maybe she was just some mortal who needed help. Then she lunged at the door.

Percy drew back, startled. He cursed in Ancient Greek.

"I know you're in there demigods!" Her voice came out scratchy, whiny as though she could barely contain her tears. "Let me in!"

"What's the plan?" Percy whispered to Annabeth. She held up a finger, as if to say _give me a minute. _Percy could see she was thinking furiously, he began looking for escape routes, certain this was a trap.

"I can't believe it's all gone!" From his view looking out the peephole again, Percy could see that she had burst into tears, her face in her hands.

"She looks genuinely upset." Percy whispered. The woman let out a low moan. Percy was beginning to have his doubts about this monster. He had never heard one sound so _sincere_. He had never seen a monster cry like that before.

"Please." The woman begged. "You have to help me."

The earnestness in her voice did it for Percy, and just as Annabeth had come up with an escape plan, Percy acted on one of his famous bouts of impulsiveness. He opened the door.

In a flash Annabeth's dagger was at the woman's throat. "Please," she croaked out, hiccupping on her sobs between words. "I need your help, please."

"Let her go Annabeth." Percy sighed. Reluctantly, Annabeth did so. Immediately on her release the mortal woman began to pace, a crazed, frenzied movement.

"You mentioned something was missing?" Percy ventured.

The woman let out a fresh wail, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes. "We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong." Annabeth said firmly.

"Yes! Yes!" The woman started "It's gone, it's all gone!"

"What's gone?" Annabeth exasperated.

"My arms! Oh my arms." The woman wailed again.

"Uh, your arms are attached to you." Percy pointed out.

The woman groaned. "Not enough! Not enough! My face! Where is my face?"

"Maybe she's just crazy." Annabeth muttered to Percy.

"Not crazy!" The woman snapped. "Oh where are my legs?"

Percy refrained from pointing out again, that her legs, were in fact attached to her body.

"Zeus did this!" She exclaimed, suddenly furious. "Zeus is always doing this."

"The Lord of the Sky took your legs?" Annabeth questioned, attempting to clarify an impossible situation.

"And my face! Oh my arms! Please help me." The crying woman begged.

Percy exchanged a loaded glance with his girlfriend. If Zeus really _had_ messed with this mortal, he had to help her. He knew firsthand what it was like to have a god interefer with your life.

Annabeth sighed in resignation. "Where did you last see them? Your legs." Percy knew she was thinking the same thing.

"I… was…" The mortal woman hiccupped. "…in a field."

"Could you be more specific?" Annabeth said through her teeth.

"It was a big field." The woman said timidly. "With trees."

Percy looked up at his girlfriend. "Central Park?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Let's go."

…

"Does any of this look familiar?"

The woman only groaned. "Where is my face?"

"Right." Percy muttered. They had been searching for over an hour now, combing through one of the largest parks in the world, and this woman was only being more and more frustrating. He and Annabeth had split up to cover more ground, but Percy was beginning to think she had only suggested that to get away from the whining mortal.

"Where was the last place you saw your face?" Percy tried asking again, for what seemed like the millionth time.

"In a mirror. On my head."

Percy scowled, but continued searching. Was it too much to ask for a quiet evening in with his girlfriend? Why was he responsible for Zeus's mishaps. And _what on earth _was this lady talking about? She already had a face!

Percy heard a sharp snap come from a bush beside him and he instinctively drew riptide. A familiar shape materialised in front of him, stuffing a Yankees cap into her back pocket. "It's just me." Annabeth told him.

Percy relaxed his grip a moment too soon. Somewhere in the distance came a loud wail of "My armssss!"

Percy and Annabeth barely exchanged a glance before they took off running towards the voice, their mortal charge trailing behind them screaming "My legs! I've found my legs!"

They came across a woman at the opposite end of the field. She had a shock of bright purple hair. Her face was a mixture of intense joy at spotting the mortal behind them, and extreme pain as she was currently being pulled across the field by a huge two-headed dog.

This was the type of monster that demigods came up against daily. Walking to the store, and there would be some sort of half snake, half cat creature in their way. Usually it was no big deal, just a swipe of a celestial bronze sword and you could continue buying milk or whatever, but this was a bit more difficult. Usually they weren't attacking random mortal women.

The problem, Percy knew, would be to get one of the heads to let go of the woman, while distracting the other. He glanced in Annabeth's direction and from one look in her eyes knew she was thinking the exact same thing. (Probably in a much more complex, intellectual way.)

Annabeth slipped on her Yankees cap, and Percy knew what he had to do.

Percy ran forward, picking up a stick. "Hey! Lassie!" Percy shouted at it.

Both of the heads looked at him. The one not holding the purple-haired woman growled at him. Percy waved the stick above his head. "Who's a good boy?" Percy was having flashbacks to when he was twelve years old, on his first innocent trip into the underworld. He had tamed a dog there too.

Two sets of eyes were following the movement of the stick, slowly back and forth. This was working. This was… pretty easy for once. Percy had the dog's attention, all he had to do was keep it until Annabeth made her move, but nothing was ever so simple.

Percy had forgotten about the crazy mortal who had led them on this quest. Seeing the purple-haired woman in the teeth of a two-headed dog had left her silent, but she chose just the wrong moment to scream out "My face!"

The dog took after her, snarling, just as Annabeth materialised, her hat falling off as her hands just missed wrapping around the large neck. Annabeth hit the ground with an oomph, unable to stab the creature with her glinting dagger.

On the plus side, the dog did drop the purple-haired woman. But now, it was tearing off after the first mortal woman. With a running leap, Percy put himself between the massive, snarling dog and the cowering mortal woman. With a great arc of his sword Percy cut through the beast, it's snarling sets of teeth reduced to dust as it dissolved back into the underworld.

Panting, Percy turned to check on Annabeth. She looked pretty disgruntled at being thrown off the dog, but otherwise okay. Percy shot her a quick, boyish grin and Annabeth felt her heart leap into her throat. She couldn't stay mad at that stupid mortal. Not when Percy was around.

A loud wailing started up again, as the first woman screamed "My legs!" and the purple-haired woman screamed "My face!". And then they were running towards each other, crying and screaming how much they missed each other. When they reached each other from across the field, they embraced, their forms melting together. They became literally engulfed in one another, bodies melding together until they were one being. One being with two faces, four arms, and four legs.

"Uh," said Percy "What just happened?"

Annabeth let out a soft "Oh!" of recognition. She smiled. "They're soulmates Percy! In some myths it is said that humans were originally made like this, but Zeus split them apart in search of their other halves."

"Thank you for your help demigods." One of the faces said. "In return we can help you find your soulmates as well."

"Uh, will we have one body like that?" Percy scrunched up his face.

The second face smiled. "No you won't. It is only for those of us made long, long ago."

"So will you accept our help?" The first face asked.

Percy looked at Annabeth, who was studiously ignoring him, her face turned to the ground. "No thanks." Percy said. "I've already got that covered."

The two faces smiled in unison. "Yes, you do." With that, the figure walked into a cove of trees and vanished, leaving Percy and Annabeth behind in an empty clearing.

Percy turned to Annabeth. "I guess we really are soulmates."

Annabeth looked up shyly, to meet his eyes. "Well, duh." She said it softly, hard words with a soft edge in a way that was so Annabeth.

Percy put his arm around her. "Let's go home Wise Girl."

Annabeth nodded, as they began to walk, for once at a leisurely pace.

"And then maybe later you can teach me the rest of what was in that Symposium book."

Annabeth, laughed out loud. "Maybe I will."

**Thanks so much to jennmariepayne for helping me out with this! And thanks to you, for reading :) **


End file.
